This handbook has the earliest surviving qin tablature attributed to the Xu family orthodox tradition.4 The preface by Chen Jing5 says that this qin tradition originated with the famous 13th century qin master Xu You (Xu Tianmin).6 At the end of the Song dynasty Xu was a "house guest" of the famous collector Yang Zuan.7 The preface then outlines the transmission of the music from Xu Tianmin to Zhang Zhu,8 who came to the Ming court in Beijing and taught the eunuch Dai Yi,9 the teacher of Huang Xian,10 also a court eunuch. Huang Xian compiled the handbook and provided an afterword
(see at right and below) that give some detail of qin activities at the court.

If tablature in Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425) was actually copied from surviving qin tablature in the collection of Yang Zuan, the Xu family tradition might thus document either a separate Song dynasty tradition, or a separate transmission of the same music over several generations.11 Although none of the 42 titles in Wugang Qinpu were new, all the melodies have differences from earlier versions and some seem to be completely different.12 What has not been determined is whether any of these differences in fact represent an earlier tradition.13

In 2015 Chen Chengbo published transcriptions of nine of the 42 melodies, and these are recorded on a CD by ROI.14

(This handbook) in the collection of the Beijing library,16 printed in the Ming dynasty, (is) a specialized collection of qin tablature compiled by (the eunuch)
Huang Xian of Pingle county in Guangxi province. In front there is a preface by Chen Jing dated 1546. The book is divided into two folios. At the end of the (2nd) folio is an afterword (also dated 1546) by Huang Xian. Altogether there are 42 pieces. (One has lyrics.17)

In my opinion (Wugang Qinpu) is what is listed among the reference books in the Yuelü Quanshu of
Zhu Zaiyu18 as the Zhang Zhu Qinpu (Qin Handbook of Zhang Zhu).19 Huang Xian's afterword clearly shows it is the original tablature of
Zhang Zhu; the preface by
Chen Jing clearly shows that Zhang Zhu's qin (music) was an outflowing from the Southern Song school of Xu Yu, (and) that there was an orderly lineage among teachers and friends; it is called the "Xumen Zhengchuan" (Correct Tradition of the House of Xu; see this
Xu tradition chart and its
related footnote). Zhang Zhu, a commoner who played qin, was summoned (to the palace) by the Ming Xiaozong emperor (reign title Hong Zhi, 1488-1505) to teach the Xumen Zhengchuan to the eunuch
Dai Yi. Huang Xian, also a eunuch, studied Xumen Zhengchuan from Dai Yi. The founder of the Xumen (Zhengchuan), Xu Yu, had in turn been a disciple of the Song dynasty's Guo Mian.20 This shows clearly that the Zhejiang school Xumen Zhengchuan, which inherited Guo Mian's style of taking its models from the rustic music of ordinary people, was still current among the people during the middle period of the Ming dynasty.21

1.Woodridge Qin Handbook (梧岡琴譜 Wugang Qinpu)15169.5 only 梧岡 Wugang, nickname for various people; 15169.10 has 梧岡道人 as a nickname of 黃獻 Huang Xian (see below). The entry in
Qinshu Cunmu has three lines, quoting information about Huang Xian found in Qianqingtang Shumu, which calls it Huang Xian Wugang Qinpu.

The Xumen chart actually puts a 徐惟謙 Xu Weiqian between Xu Shen and Zhang Zhu; I am not sure of the source of that information. The afterword adds nothing further on him, and I do not know whether any details are given in the reference mentioned by Zha Fuxi (see also the footnote below on the Zhang Zhu Qin Handbook).
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9.
戴義 Dai YiAlso referred to as 竹樓 Zhulou (Bamboo Tower), but NFI at present other than that he was a eunuch and a student of 張助 Zhang Zhu.
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10.
黃獻 Huang Xian (1485-1561)
In 1496 Huang Xian (48904.1324 字仲賢，號梧岡，廣西平樂人) style name Zhongxian, nickname Wugang, was from Pingle in Guangxi. He entered the palace in 1496 as a eunuch, and on imperial command studied literature and the qin from 戴義 Dai Yi (see above). Wugang Qinpu apparently includes melodies in the Xu tradition either as he himself played them, or as they were written in tablature in his possession (or both?). His melodies are also in Qinpu Zhengchuan.
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11.Comparing transmission in Wugang Qinpu with that of Shen Qi Mi PuThe Zhang Zhu footnote gives an outline that tries to document the transmission of the Xu Household Correct Tradition over what amounts to about 150 - 200 years. However, there is no information as to whether or which pieces had their tablature simply recopied or which were revised based on how succeeding generations interpreted the melodies. It may thus not be possible to know to what extent the Xu family tradition changed during this period.

As for Shen Qi Mi Pu, although Zhu Quan consciously tried to find and copy old tablature, he mentions that some of it was edited. Thus, although some if not all the tablature in Shen Qi Mi Pu (1425) probably dates from the Song dynasty, without tablature from that time or from the intervening period it is either difficult or impossible to determine how exactly the alternate versions in handbooks such as Wugang Qinpu reflect an alternate Song dynasty style.
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12.Unique nature of Wugang QinpuThere is more about this handbook in Xu Jian,
Chapter 7a, as well as in Zha Fuxi's preface. As for melodies unique to Wugang Qinpu, its Gui Qu Lai Ci, for example, has the standard lyrics but a completely different melody. See also the
comparative chart.
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13.Wugang Qinpu melodies: deleloping or preserving?Sometimes it is possible to say that one melody clearly developed from another, but a lot more research needs to be done before one can be confident of most such determinations.
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14.Transciptions and recordings by 陳成渤 Chen ChengboThe book 南宋浙派，古琴傳習錄 Nansong Zhepai, Guqin Chuanzilu (2015) has transcriptions by Chen Chengbo of nine of the melodies into number notation. ROI (龍吟) has published recordings of these nine on a separate CD called 浙派傳習錄 Zhepai Chuanxi Lu (composite or nylon-metal strings except as indicated). The title, translated as Attribution of Inheriting and Learning from the Zhe School, Volume I: A Woodcutter's Song (Qiao Ge) suggests further recordings are planned.

20.郭沔 Guo MianGuo Mian, style name Guo Chuwang, was born mid-12th century in Li Shui,
Zhejiang province (about 200 km south of Hangzhou, then the capital). The
preface to He Wu Dongtian (#25) mentions the Zixiadong Pu, a
lost 12th qin handbook said to have had the transcriptions by Mao Minzhong and
Xu Tianmin of performances by Guo Chuwang.
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21.Rustic music of ordinary peopleThis was clearly a political comment: the actual relationship between qin music and other genres is largely unstudied.
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